The Garage Sale

Every year, I get this urge. It comes over me, and I can’t quit thinking about it until I take action. I need to have a garage sale. I mean, I get it in my head, and I have to make it happen. I’m not a hoarder, thank goodness, I think I might be the opposite. I’m quick to move something out of my house that I feel like has served its purpose. But this can pose problems for me. I think I once Good-willed a wedding gift from my husbands grandmother….I can’t live that one down. I don’t usually have enough to have my own garage sale, due to this issue.

So when I get this urge, I usually rally the neighbors with a meeting in the street, “Hey, wanna have a garage sale?” My neighbors usually oblige. I sometimes rope in friend or two. We set the date, change it if the weather looks too hot, and then set a new one. There is a meeting in the garage the night before where there is a lot of price analyzation going on. Some think they’re treasures worth more than we all know they will get paid. Sometimes we’re like “man I should have had more on that!” when it sells first thing in the morning. Its all a game, I suppose.

Here is the thing about garage sales. Now this is profound. So get out your pen and paper. I feel like this could be fortune cookie worthy. Here we go. Garage sales are people paying you to carry off your unwanted things. Think about that. People are paying you to do all the hauling away. It is the American economy at its finest.

After 2 days of getting up early, hauling 4 families things out of my garage, displaying and redisplaying things, I’m usually completely over the garage sale. It really is just 3 or 4 women, enjoying their early morning coffee together at the break of dawn, discussing life issues, and randomly telling our children to stop trying to purchase the things we want to get rid of. I never profit more than dinner out for our family of 5. And I’m tired and cranky when its all done. But alas, I will get that urge, I can put my garage sale profits on it. I’ll get that urge again next year.